Electrical connector assemblies are well known in the art and are used in many industries. As an example, the automobile industry uses electrical connector assemblies. In the past, performance requirements for electrical connector assemblies were not very demanding because, in older vehicles, these electrical connector assemblies carried low voltage and/or low amperage. In modern vehicles, higher performance requirements for electrical connector assemblies are now demanded. Modern vehicles use electrical connector assemblies not only for the operation of the vehicle itself but also for equipment ancillary to its operation. Ancillary equipment includes entertainment equipment such as high fidelity stereo equipment and liquid crystal television screens for passenger enjoyment. As a result, the electrical connector assemblies must now carry higher voltages and/or higher amperage.
An electrical connector assembly includes an electrical connector housing and a plurality of terminal pins arranged in a juxtaposed manner to one another. Electrical connector assemblies are often molded using plastic as the mold material. When removed from the mold, one portion of each terminal pin is enveloped by molded plastic to secure the terminal pins in the electrical connector housing and another portion of each terminal pin projects from a generally flat surface of the electrical connector housing.
By way of example, the electrical connector assembly can be mounted onto a printed circuit board. The plurality of terminal pins extends though a pattern of holes in the printed circuit board that comports with the arrangement of the terminal pins. The generally flat surface of the connector housing contacts the flat printed circuit board. Unfortunately, a small gap might be formed between the generally flat surface of the electrical connector housing and the printed circuit board. It is theorized that this small gap is created because the molding process used to make the electrical connector assembly renders an electrical connector housing with imprecise dimensional characteristics. This is an inherent problem with plastic molding.
In this small gap, juxtaposed ones of the terminal pins are exposed to one another in an open-air environment. Being in this small gap, electrical arching might occur between these juxtaposed ones of the terminal pins resulting in detrimental effects to the electrical circuit. Now, with electrical connector assemblies being designed to carry higher voltage and/or higher amperage, it is believed that the incidence of electrical arching might increase.
To mitigate electrical arching between juxtaposed ones of the terminal pins in this open-air environment, a conformal coating is applied between the generally flat surface of the electrical connector housing and the printed circuit board to fill the small gap. As a result, the juxtaposed terminal pins are now considered isolated from one another thereby improving the dielectric characteristics of the electrical connector assembly mounted onto the printed circuit board in order to mitigate electrical arching.
It would be beneficial to provide a dielectric component for an electrical connector assembly in order to enhance the dielectric characteristics of the electrical connector assembly. It would also be beneficial to provide a dielectric component for the electrical connector assembly to mitigate electrical arching between juxtaposed ones of terminal pins projecting from an electrical connector housing without using conformal coating. The present invention provides these benefits.